


Ring around the rosie

by Deanpala



Category: The Magnus Archives (Podcast)
Genre: A Leitner Made Them Do It (The Magnus Archives), Body Horror, Body Language, LITERALLY, Language Barrier, Only Kind of - Freeform, Sharing a Body, Transformation, and by it I mean “turned into a cursed object that slowly grows on you as a second skin”, and by them I mean Martin, flesh, kind of?, not really - Freeform, this is not smut, transformation into a cursed object
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-01
Updated: 2020-11-01
Packaged: 2021-03-09 03:34:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,916
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27317821
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Deanpala/pseuds/Deanpala
Summary: when the man puts him on, he knows what’s happening in the world again. He still can’t see or hear in the conventional sense, but there is knowledge, a knowledge of warmth and words being said around him, the feeling of bending fingers while routing for change that echos in his- (no, not his he reminds himself, this is the mans body) finger. He may not control it but... the SENSATION of it, after so long.He is in wonder, and he holds tight, and burrows himself in the man, puts in roots he didn’t know he had so he doesn’t have to loose himself again anytime soon.OrMartin gets turned into a cursed ring by a leitner and Jon finds him
Comments: 3
Kudos: 53





	Ring around the rosie

He had been seventeen when he found the book, when it... transformed him.

His mother doesn’t look for him, and she sells the ring she finds on the floor.

—————————-

Jons not usually the one for jewelry, but the ring for some reason.... it catches his eye, and feels like he doesn’t have any choice but to buy it, like it was meant for him.

It isn’t anything fancy, just a simple thing with warring splashes of pink and brown, and it feels warm to the touch.

It fits perfectly, and he doesn’t think to try and take it off.

It’s rather a good thing he doesn’t, because he would have probably freaked out when it refused to come off.

————————-

Martin is ecstatic when the man grabs him. It’s... well it’s really weird to be grabbed like that, to be something that doesn’t have bones or muscles, yet to feel like still only the meat of yourself, that you’re only there as a living object, and not as a person but he’s been alone as nothing but the ring for so long, and without eyes or ears he had to wait on his own. But when the man puts him on, he knows what’s happening in the world again. He still can’t see or hear in the conventional sense, but there is knowledge, a knowledge of warmth and words being said around him, the feeling of bending fingers while routing for change that echos in his- (no, not his he reminds himself, this is the mans body) finger. He may not control it but... the SENSATION of it, after so long.

He is in wonder, and he holds tight, and burrows himself in the man, puts in roots he didn’t know he had so he doesn’t have to loose himself again anytime soon.

It takes all he has to wait until the mans asleep to get more of that warmth, to look for sensation outside the hand alone, but he makes himself because as much as he wants a reminder of existence, of something outside himself, he doesn’t want to scare the person giving it to him.

He tests out hesitantly where he can go, and feels relieved that certain areas won’t be a temptation. Things like the hands themselves and the face, things that would be the easiest to use if he were to overtake someone completely and take away their free will, are off limits, and he finds comfort in that.

He also finds comfort in the fact that when growing out he does not look like himself, but like the mans skin, with just a slight pattern that is easy to miss, something that looks less like leather and more like embroidery.

And sure enough, he doesn’t notice that Martin’s made it half way up his forearm.

—————

Martin has three problems.

The first is that, despite feeling conscious again, he still can’t interact with the world in any meaningful way. When he learned the man, Jon, had worked somewhere specifically based around the supernatural, he had been thrilled because if anyone could help him figure out how to fix this it would be someone already involved.

But he doesn’t have a MOUTH anymore, and he hasn’t suddenly become a telepath (although he does know Jons emotions and thoughts very intimately because he can feel when he tenses up, or when his muscles twitch, and he can hear him muttering to himself) so he doesn’t know how to tell Jon he’s there without scaring him, how to even convey he’s sentient.

The second problem is that the man refuses to take any sort of care of himself. Martin is trying so hard not to scare him, not to move and simply enjoy feeling the air go by when Jon decides to do things himself, but he HATES it. Jon works at a desk reading all day, and as nice as it is to feel his pulse and listen to his voice, doing nothing but that for over EIGHT HOURS A DAY is exhausting. 

The third problem relates directly to these two. He thinks perhaps, that if he could just have a little more room, be more spread out, he could try and communicate better, but Jon doesn’t sleep enough for him to move as fast as he wants.

This problem, luckily, is solved like so many other things in life are.

By a cup of tea.

___________________

Jon isn’t very good at taking care of himself he knows, and rarely gets himself any type of treat.

Which is why it’s so infuriating that the one time he buys a drink for himself he spills it over his front the second he walks into work.

It’s frustrating and he hates the feeling drinks leave on you, managing to make you feel cold and damp all day no matter how hot the drink had been.

Hold on.

There wasn’t.... he didn’t feel anything wet or hot on him. What he does feel is like his skin is squirming.

He lifts up his shirt and his eyes widen.

“Tim! Sasha!”

They rush in immediately.

“There’s something supernatural happening to me.”

—————————

What they discovered was a second layer of skin on Jon, that looked like it was sewn on, and connected directly to the ring. 

He tried to remove the ring once, and it.... bit him wasn’t the right word, but that’s what it felt like. Maybe twisted itself into him, connected itself to him somehow.

Cutting at the extra layer where it met his skin did nothing either, it just made the entire thing tremble against him and leave less space in between to try cutting through again.

So they just. Stop. They can’t do anything to get it off, so the only thing to do is research.

Jon leans over on his desk distraught, and almost falls asleep, until the... thing starts moving.

A pressure squeezes at his sides, his shoulders, or rather the thing connected to his shoulders, pulls closer together and down, forcing him to yelp and sit up. The thing firms itself around his lower back and stomach, and he’s terrified for a moment that it’s going to constrict around him like a snake, and that that’ll end all of it. Broken or suffocated by something that looks like his own skin.

It stops after a second though, and just holds him upright.

Ok then. So his second skin has opinions on his posture and choice of sleeping places.

He finds out over the next month or so it has a lot of opinions. Whenever he sits down for more than an hour it starts squeezing at him; though it’ll let him largely ignore it unless it’s around lunch time or time to go home, then it’s like if he doesn’t want to break something or pass out from a lack of air he has to move.

He hates the ring with a burning passion. It won’t even let him have the time to research it.

——————-

Martin can’t sleep anymore, but feels like he could drift off listening to Jons voice and wrapping around his gentle breathing when he gets his first sign of hope. 

“The only English seemed to be a bookplate at the front that read “From the library of Jurgen Leitner-“”

Martin would have fallen out of his chair in excitement at the mention of something he knew related to his issue if he had a body, and what counts as his body quickly contracts both out of excitement and to get Jons attention. It’s his favorite thing about them knowing now, that he doesn’t have to sit still all day in fear of scaring them, because just knowing he’s there is frightening enough. This might be his lucky break, make him realize that he’s not just some cursed artifact, but an unlucky person turned into this. If they know the name, maybe they know how to fix this.

He realizes about then that he hasn’t felt the gentle rise and fall of Jons chest for a moment and guilty loosens himself a bit so Jon can take in a heaving gasp.

He does feel rather bad about that, but it does not outweigh his excitement, so he gives Jon another quick, although much lighter squeeze to pull him out of his fears of Martin strangling him or something, and to get him to focus on what’s IMPORTANT.

“Wh-what?” Jon says in a breathless way, like he’s scared but it’s taking a back seat to his confusion.

Martin has an idea, and instead of letting his excitement get in the way, this time he purposely does three short, neat, pulses that are difficult to mistake for anything but a clear pattern, something that he hopes with everything in him will be taken as a sign of intelligent life.

Jon tenses beneath him and waits anxiously for something else to happen.

Nothing does, and he thinks.

“Are you.... are you sentient? Can you understand me?”

Martin can’t help himself from rippling excitedly across jons skin. He knows! Someone is talking to him directly!

Jon winces at the sensation of the shiftingand holds his breath, waiting for something worse to happen but it doesn’t, and Martin settles down mostly, though he can’t entirely stop an excited thrum of energy.

“That’s...... ok. Can you, can you let me go? Get off of me? It isn’t- it’s not comfortable for me, like this.”

Martin considers for a long second. He isn’t willing to loose his chance at going back to normal, but he understands Jons discomfort. He wants to let him be comfortable, but until he’s back to his old self, until he is back to being someone instead of just flesh without a body, all he has is the tensing of Jons muscles, the beat of his heart, the steady rise and fall of his chest, and the warmth of his skin, those are his whole world. So he loosens himself a bit, let’s there be an obvious separation of hem of himself and Jon’s skin, but he refuses to let go entirely.

He feels justified about his decision when Jon then immediately starts trying to pull the ring off, and Martin burrows back down frantically in both panic and reprimand.

Jon lets out a cut off breath of pain and Martin relaxes a bit.

“Good lord, alright, so that’s a no, please don’t do that again.”

Martin wraps into himself at jons shoulder in apology, his best imitation of a hand squeezing a shoulder.

“What do you want from me? Why are you doing this?”

Martin vibrates with excitement again that they’re on topic now, but quickly restrains himself, and starts squeezing at Jons wrist in hopes that he takes the hint that this is as close he can get to pointing.

“The statement?”

Jon reaches and tries to turn the page, and Martin panics, pulling the parts of himself connected to Jons shoulders back toward each other to tear his hand away.

Jon hisses a bit at this in surprise.

“Ok, ok, I’m not- I’m not touching it but I don’t know what you want from me.”

Martin presses gently between Jons collar bones, the nearest he can get to his throat.

“You want me to reread it?”

Bingo! He gives Jon a gentle squeeze in confirmation and then tries to go as slack as he can as a... not a reward, but maybe in thanks?

“The only English seemed to be a bookplate at the front that read “From the library of Jurgen Leitner-“”

Martin is practically dancing across Jons skin in excitement, shivering with anticipation and so, so much HOPE.

“Wait are- no. No surely...”

Moment of truth.....

“Were you... were you a person before?”

Martin can not keep himself still and wraps around Jon in small areas as a hug, constantly shifting in his joy. Finally, finally something. Finally, someone aware of his existence.

Jon passes out.

Oops.

He really should have thought about the mental impact and the implications.

———————-

“So,” Jon says “we’re looking for a Leitner. I don’t know which one yet, but. Well, it’s a start in what to research for anyway.”

“Hold on,” Sasha says “ Leitners?  As in, the library of? No offense Jon but I don’t see how your artifact relates to the books.”

Jon sighs and feels the.... well he supposed it’s a person isn’t it, tense around him anxiously.

“Normally I would agree but it has been brought to my attention that the ring is not an artifact. Or I suppose, not just. This entire thing is apparently some side effect from... foolish reading shall we say.”

The skin pinches at him a bit in annoyance from the snide comment, and Tim gets uncomfortably close to him.

“You’re saying this thing is aware of what it’s doing to you.”

“Yes.”

That’s all it takes for Tim to grab at Jons finger and YANK, and Jon has the distinct feeling that the ring would be howling if it could make sound. Instead, they pull everything in Jon back as hard as they can, trying to get both of them away from Tim and it HURTS.

Jon yanks his arm back of his own free will and slaps at Tim’s hand.

“Stop that! You think I haven’t tried that already?!? It isn’t.... I don’t like it, but as far as I can tell they aren’t evil or anything, they just want help.”

“If it’s so good, then why is it still clinging to you like a damn parasite?”

The person winces at this, squeezing Jon which makes Jon by extension also wince.

“You’re upsetting them.”

“Good! They should be upset if they’re going to fucking puppet you around! This isn’t-“

Sasha grabs Tim by the shoulder roughly.

“Tim. Stop, think about this rationally for a second. I know you hand issues revolving skins and like, anything supernatural, but this isn’t just some monster. This is a person who’s been cursed, and we need to help them.”

“But then why would-“

“Tim. Tim look at me. They don’t have a mouth, or a body. They’re a little bigger than the size of a quarter. Wrapping around someone, pulling at them to get their attention, that’s all they HAVE.”

Jon mutters in consideration. He never thought about why they clung to him outside of some guarantee that he couldn’t just leave them hanging, but that makes sense. They’re just a ring without him. 

Tim takes a few deep breathes and closes his eyes. Sasha’s right, despite this being a skin being worn, it isn’t trying to take Jons face or kill anyone, it’s had every opportunity to just...squeeze him dead, but it hasn’t. It hasn’t even spread in weeks, keeping firmly away from Jons face hands and feet. This isn’t the same as Danny, it isn’t, it’s another victim.

“Fine. What do you want us to do, find every Leitner mentioned and wait for it- them to recognize it?”

“That might be perfect actually,” Sasha says “Could that even work? Can they see?”

“That’s a good idea and.... a good question actually. Can.... can you? See? You don’t... you don’t really have eyes, but you don’t have ears and seem to hear well enough....”

Jon feels ridiculous, talking down to what for the most part looks like his SKIN, but gets... some response of squeezes.

“Oh right. I’m sorry I- I can’t really understand you...”

They pull at his elbow in such a way that his arm jerks to the side and he takes it as something similar to a head shake.

“Alright then, I suppose I’ll just have to... read the titles out loud until you recognize one.”

They sort of... tremble against him, and it takes him a second to realize what they’re doing.

“No, there’s no need for that, I know not to read the book itself, you don’t have to worry. In fact, I’d prefer you not, it’s uncomfortable.”

They eases off at that thankfully.

“This is so weird,” Sasha says.

“Agreed” Tim shudders. “No offense but I’m glad it’s not me.”

Jon sort of flops down into the nearest chair exhausted by the mess of the day.

“No offense taken it’s perfectly unders- HEY!”

They jerk back to their normal shape from the squeezing they’d been doing of trying to make him sit up straight.

“Can you not? I know you have to be here but it’s still my body and now I know you’re a person I’m going to hold you accountable. I’m not your stress ball and you’re not my- my waist trainer or something!”

Tim knows this should be a disturbing thought, but can’t help but find the idea of supernatural waist trainers amusing, and pushes down a smile.

“What did it do?” Sasha asks curiously.

“It’s been going on for awhile now, they apparently have opinions on my posture. And my sleeping habits. And my eating habits. And my work ethic.”

Tim can’t help himself, he cackles.

———————

It doesn’t take long for them to find the book. Martin had lived in London after all, so it didn’t have much of a chance to actually get far.

The problem is now that they have the book they don’t really know how to use it to fix him? So they made some inquires with other institutes to see if they had any dealings with it.

They’re still waiting on a response, and it’s making him anxious.

After a night of tossing and turning Jon finally sits up frustrated.

“Will you stop moving about so much? I am TRYING to sleep, something you are usually very insistent about, so if you don’t mind.”

Martin can’t help it thought he just had so much nervous energy that he can’t do anything with. What if they don’t find anything? What if they DO? It’s been so long since he was a person, he doesn’t know if he’ll have a place to return to. God, his mum might be dead, she was sick and he wasn’t there to take care of her-

Jon hisses a bit, and he realizes that he started to squish him again. Oops.

“We have talked about this, only to communicate.”

He pokes at Jon just to be contrary, and then pulls from the front bottom part of the leg to the top, forcing Jon to straighten his legs.

“Nooooooo.....” he whines “it’s to late to get up...”

Martin lets go and pulls one more time, before releasing Jon entirely. He is going to make his desires known, but if anything happens he’s going to let it be Jons decision.

Jon groans and stands up, and Martin flutters against his skin happily.

“Yes yes, alright, now if I do what you want will you let me sleep?”

Martin pulls down at Jons shoulder to make his arm “nod” for him.

“Fine. What are we doing?”

Martin excitedly leads Jon to his kitchen through a series of wrist squeezes in certain directions.

“Really? Why? You can’t even drink tea, and I highly doubt you can smell it.”

Martin doesn’t know how to explain to him that making tea is just what he did when he was anxious, and that the warmth is nice, so he doesn’t try to communicate anything, just waits for Jon to play along.

———————-

The solution to the rings problem is found relatively easy in the end. To make them human again, their name must be written in the Leitner, while they are in some way around the writing utensil, and then must be placed on top of the book.

Tim jokingly suggests using an Ouija board, since they already push around Jons limbs anyway, but they decide it’s a little too on the nose considering, especially after Jon jokes about being controlled by the ring AND possessed, at which point the ring immediately starts to pull its flesh back into itself, in part so that they can’t use him to use an Ouija board, and part because it’s part of the process of freeing themself.

Not like he could’ve seen the letters anyway.

They come up with a solution to the name problem, and just have Jon to through the alphabet several times and have the ring pulse at him when he reaches a correct letter. It takes awhile but they learn his name is Martin Blackwood, and the first time they say it, the first time he’s heard his name in years, he can’t stay still. It feels so good to be a person in someone’s mind, to be something that deserves a name instead of an object with just a title.

And then, it’s time. It’s taken weeks for him to make himself only a ring again, and all he needs to do is just... let go. Let Jon take him off.

And he can’t do it. Jon puts his fingers on him and Martin just burrows down more.

“Martin? What are you doing, we’re trying to fix you. Come on, get off.”

Martin pulsates around Jons finger anxiously and gives it one firm squeeze.

“What are- you know you need to do this you- oh. You- you’re afraid it won’t work, aren’t you?”

He is, But that’s far from the worst that could happen and he squeezes Jons finger tighter this time.

“I see. You’re afraid we won’t put you back on after if it doesn’t work. That you’ll loose your only means of communication.”

Martin buried himself into Jon’s finger embarrassment, but so so frightened.

“Well. I can’t say I like having you there, but you have my word that if this doesn’t work we’ll keep looking, and I will put you back on. Although- I might take a break for a week or so, I would like my body to be my own for a time. But I promise, we aren’t just going to leave you stuck.

Alright. He doesn’t believe Jon, but ok. This is his only chance, he can do this.

He slides off easily when Jon reaches for him this time.

The moment of suspense seems unbearably long as he rolls against the tip of the pen Jons using, and he’s tempted to not try and finish, to just latch on when Jon lifts him to put him on the cover.

He manages to keep himself from doing so though, and the world shifts. It’s bright and big and cold, and he-

He doesn’t know what to do. How to exist like this.

——————-

Jon’s surprised when he sees Martin in front of him. He didn’t know what he pictured, but he thought the pattern on the ring was just... covering its basis for shades. Apparently not, as Martin had spots of whiter skin on top of skin that is darker than Jon’s.

He’s beautiful.

There’s a long awkward second where they just stare at each other in silence.

“Martin?”

Martin sobs and throws himself at Jon, clinging despite being the taller of the two and trying to bury his face in Jons chest.

This sparks a great deal of alarm.

“Martin, are you alright? What’s wrong?”

He’s shaking, and his voice comes out hoarse which makes sense considering he hasn’t spoken since this whole thing started.

“It’s- I can’t- there’s to much of- of everything, I’m not supposed to feel and- and it’s too much but not enough because I can’t feel you anymore- I-“

He starts hyperventilating and Jon gives Tim and Sasha a panicked look. What the hell is he supposed to do with this?

Sasha shrugs, and pulls out her phone to look something up while Tim mouths ‘hug?’

So Jon sort of just stands there letting Martin keep holding him and doesn’t do anything.

After about three minutes Sasha says “wow. Yeah, actually can I hug him too? It says he’s been missing since 2004.”

“What the fuck,” Tim says quietly “yeah, I second that then.”

2004.

That’s over ten years.

Martin has calmed down a bit by now, but is still clinging to Jon’s chest with his eyes closed.

Jon has to jostle him a bit to get his attention so he can answer. 

“Martin? Do you think you can handle more people right now?”

Martin pulls back from him a bit slowly and wipes his eyes.

“I- God, sorry I forgot I can- I can talk now. You probably didn’t need me clinging to you right after I just got off, sorry I just- I got used to hearing your heartbeat after awhile, it- it scared me a bit, not being able to hear it. Sorry, you guys really don’t need to-“

“You’re fine,” Sasha says “stop saying sorry.”

“We know we don’t need to,” Tim says “but we want to, and you’ve- you’ve been through a lot.”

Martin sits there for a second, unsure what to say, before nodding.

It feels better, to be surrounded by breathing and heartbeats and warmth again.

He doesn’t know how to deal with his own now.

———————-

They quickly learn that Martin can’t be left on his own without having a panic attack, and that in his experience being alone means a loss of all his senses, so they work out a system. Every night, a different person lets him stay with them.

They all sleep differently which is interesting, and he’s never uncomfortable with any of them. Tim will hold you like a teddy bear, Jon curls around you and tries to get under you every time you shift (Martin swears he’s almost clinger than he was, and he was a supernatural second skin), and Sasha throws an arm over you while keeping a few inches from you.

Sometimes, Sasha and Tim stay together, but when he asks about it Sasha says that she’s aroace, which he hadn’t hear of before.

One of those days he makes tea in the morning for both of them and Sasha hugs him tightly, making him laugh awkwardly.

“I um- thank you? That’s... you’re a good hugger.”

“You’re pretty good yourself!”

“Thanks. It um- this’ll sound weird but it always makes me feel like I’m supposed to be going to bed?”

“What,” Tim asks “hugs?”

“Yeah it’s.... well it’s embarrassing but when I was.... ya know... Jon isn’t very good of taking care of himself, but he seems to like pressure, it helped him relax so I’d just... give it to him to try and get him to sleep. Sorry, creepy I know.”

“I’ve actually been wondering about that,” Sasha says “how did that whole thing... work?”

“Sash, I don’t know if we should really-“

“Its- it’s fine Tim I don’t mind. Like what part?”

“All of it. How did you spread from ring size, how did you connect, how’d you interact?”

“It was- it was weird. The spreading kind of felt like when you braid your hair? Like when you have it under a hat or in a bun, there’s more it’s just.... away. Except instead of my hair it was flesh and instead of braiding it was more.... weaving I guess. And it’s kind of gross to talk about but I just kind of burrowed? It didn’t feel weird at the time and I didn’t like actually go under Jons skin, but it felt like it in a way, like burying yourself under a blanket. Not interacting was actually more difficult than anything else though, it was just like flexing or something.”

Sasha lets out a hmmmm and there’s an awkward silence as Martin avoids looking at them to distract himself with his tea, then makes a face.

“No offense but this tea is like wood shavings or something. Is it at least local?”

“Oh my god,” Tim says “are you a HIPSTER?”

“I’m- I don’t know what that is. 2007, remember?”

“Words existed since the 40’s” Sasha says casually and Tim looks at her.

“Why do you know that?”

“I’m a woman of taste.”

“Fuck there might be two of you. Martin, no thinking, just off the top of your head name your favorite band.”

“Milburn? I made a few tapes of them....”

Tim cackles.

“Tapes? Like from the eighties? The decade you were alive for for what? Three years?”

“They have a type of funky lofi charm...”

“ And Milburn? No judgement, but that’s such a ‘The last time I was human I was seventeen and a hipster’ answer.”

“Very specific demographic,” Sasha agrees “it was for that type of audience. Hence why it’s dead now, didn’t have the wide spread appeal.”

“MILBURNS DEAD?!?!”

“Yeah since two thousand eight.”

“How do you know that Sasha?”

She smirks at Tim.

“How do you know that it’s the type of music a seventeen year old hipster would listen too?”

“Touché.”

——————

Martin finds that his favorite place is with his head against Jons chest. The familiarity from months gone by is nice, because everything else in the world has changed. Eleven or so years is a long time to be cut off from everything else.

“You know,” Jon says gently, having given up trying to act professional to Martin after not being able to get any alone time “if you need a job, there’s an open spot for Archival assistant. Might help save up for some therapy to cope with the- with everything.”

He doesn’t know how to look for a job or get friends, so he doesn’t even have to think about it before accepting.

He couldn’t ask for more, and everything’s going to be fine.


End file.
